


Hope

by Bannerific (Nellethiel)



Series: Of Science and Soldiers - 100 One-Shots [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Guns, It was supposed to be a one-shot but I cheated., M/M, Pre-Slash, References to Suicide, Science Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-08
Packaged: 2017-12-22 17:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nellethiel/pseuds/Bannerific
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony can't find Bruce, and then he does.<br/>An emotional discussion ensues which leaves both men taking a good hard look at their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> I broke my one-shot rule.

Tony couldn't find Bruce. He'd been looking for the better part of the last hour, but so far, no success. He had asked everyone who was home. He had even pestered Steve, who had been intently studying a college history book, praying the soldier wasn't still irritated about the incident with the toaster. Steve had shrugged absently, suggested that maybe Bruce was trying to get some sleep for once, asked why Tony wanted to bother him anyway. Yup, still irritated.

He would normally have just asked JARVIS, but the AI had just been upgraded to new specs, and in yet another case of Disorganization due to Tony's Short Attention Span, the surveillance system was not yet compatible. And Tony sure as hell didn't feel like checking all those cameras himself. Who had the time?

So the inventor got his cardio for the week. Pepper had just rolled her eyes as Tony passed her office on the seventh floor, grumbling about how he might just buy (or build) one of those stupid Segways all the yuppies were using. It was nearly midnight before he burst through the doors that led to the roof, a cool breeze striking his face and the relative darkness temporarily blinding him.

As his eyes adjusted, Tony could just make out a shadow in the shape of a man painted against the backdrop of a starry night and a brilliant cityscape. The man sat on the low wall that surrounded the top of the building, legs dangling, slouched and quiet.

"Doctor Livingston, I presume," Tony quipped, crossing the rooftop to stand at Bruce's shoulder. Bruce didn't look up. In fact, Tony almost wondered if the doctor had noticed his arrival at all. Tony could just make out through the reflections in Bruce's glasses that his eyes were unfocused, far away. His hands were folded, resting in his lap. His unruly hair had been tossed about by the breeze, and he looked altogether made of stone.

Tony suddenly realized he'd forgotten why he was looking for Bruce to begin with.

He checked his watch and sat down on the wall, turning and swinging his legs out over the edge of the building. He didn't often sit around and admire the view from the upper floors of his tower, but Tony had built up for a reason. The squares of light that popped, three-dimensional, out of the darkness seemed to vibrate with energy. The dark of the earth and the buildings met with the dark of the sky, and the electric lights blended with the stars until the horizon melted away. Suddenly the earth below was a sky, and the sky was an earth, and Tony's stomach flipped a little.

The air was crisp, clean, cool. The silence was warm. Then Tony's phone went off.

It was Pepper. Where was he? Had he forgotten about his conference call with that company in Tokyo? Of course he had.

Then Tony saw something in Bruce's hand.

"Pepper, cancel it. Tell them I'm sorry, reschedule it." He hung up.

"Bruce..." Then he realized he didn't know what to say. What does any reasonable man say when they find their best friend on a rooftop in the middle of the night with a pistol in their hand?


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An explanation is provided, leaving Tony with more questions than answers.

"Bruce?" Tony tried again, swallowing slowly, his eyes flickering between Bruce's face (still impassive) and the Beretta clutched casually in his hands. "I was... wondering where you'd run off to. Been running my ass all over the place. I wanted to tell you something, but naturally I can't remember what it is, so that didn't work out as well... as I expected..." Tony trailed off.

There was a brief silence, then Bruce finally spoke, turning to face his friend, his gaze betraying his preoccupation.

"Hm? What were you saying?"

Tony opened his mouth to speak; whether to grumble about being ignored or to repeat himself, he wasn't really sure. But Bruce cut him off with a hand on his shoulder, giving his head a little shake before continuing.

"I'm really sorry, Tony, I was thinking about other things," he apologize, quite earnestly. "But you have my undivided attention now, what's up?" And now he looked it; his eyebrows were raised slightly, his eyes now fixed firmly on Tony. And one hand, almost carelessly, still holding that pistol.

"It's nothing, it doesn't matter. Look, Bruce," the words tumbled from Tony's mouth. "Are you okay? I mean, if you are, awesome, sorry I bothered you, but if you're not, that's okay too, and we can talk about it and make you a little more okay. If you want."

"Yeah, I'm fine, why do you- _oh_!"

And to Tony's surprise, the doctor laughed.

"You mean this?" Bruce asked, indicating the gun.

"Gee, no, actually, I hadn't really noticed," Tony began, already working up to a good ramble-speed. "But now that you mention it, I guess it is a little strange that you're up on my roof all by yourself with a gun and you didn't tell anyone where you'd be, least of all your lab partner who was looking for you for ages to tell you that the zirconium samples finally got shipped. Ah, I knew I'd remember eventually."

Bruce raised an eyebrow, staring at Tony a moment before speaking.

"Are you done?"

"Yeah, I'm done."

"We're good?"

"Yes. Good. Go. Shoot."

"I've had this gun for a long time," Bruce began. His eyes went distant again as he turned back toward the cityscape. "It was my dad's..."

An arrow pierced Tony's heart then; if the team had an I-Had-A-Shitty-Dad competition, he figured Bruce would win, hands-down. He couldn't help but wonder what memories surfaced every time Bruce looked at that weapon, held it in his hands. He wondered if that was the gun he used to-

"It's what I used the first time I ever tried to commit suicide," Bruce cut smoothly into Tony's thoughts, answering his unformed question.

"And is there a particular reason you decided to go stargazing with it?"

"I was going to get rid of it."

_Oh._

"I decided it was finally time to stop carrying this around with me, literally and figuratively. So I was going to throw it off the roof." Bruce paused again, then turned to smile wryly at Tony. "But then I realized, 'Gee, Banner, that's not completely stupid, there couldn't possibly be people down there or anything,' so I've decided to sell it. And it was such a nice night, so cool and quiet, I thought I'd sit up here for a while. It _was_ quiet anyway."

"So you don't need it anymore?"

"You know, I really don't," Bruce said earnestly, turning to face Tony with his whole body now, shoving the gun into the back of his pants. Tony had never been particularly intimidated by guns, given his background, but once Bruce's hands were free, Tony felt his heart finally unclench. "When I first moved in here, I was really skeptical about... well, everything. It was a thoughtful gesture on your part, and you were so generous, it seemed rude of me to say no." Bruce's eyes dropped as he fiddled with a loose string on his trousers. Tony kept his eyes on Bruce's face. "But then, you happened." Tony could feel his eyebrows creep upward. _Me?_ "You... you just gave me some kind of...  hope that maybe I could handle it. That maybe there was someone in the world who would... who _wanted to_ see Bruce instead of the Other... the Hulk."

Bruce lifted his head, his brown eyes shimmering behind his spectacles. Tony reached forward on impulse, almost took Bruce's cheek in his hand, but thought better of it, and ended up awkwardly patting Bruce on the leg. It seemed that the physicist understood, though, because he smiled and squeezed Tony's hand, then swung his legs back onto the solid surface of the roof and stood rather abruptly.

"Let's go drop this off in my room, then go get some ice cream or something," Bruce suggested, taking Tony by surprise. "I think Dairy Queen is still open." With that, Bruce turned on his heel and made for the door, leaving a dazed and rather contemplative Tony trailing in his wake.


End file.
